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Marshall Memo 710 November 6, 2017 2 1. Key Insights on Studying, Remembering, and Learning In an appendix to his 2013 book, How We Learn, Benedict Carey answers eleven essential questions that sum up the main insights he presents in the book: â€¢ How important is routine, like having a dedicated study area? Not at all, says Carey. â€œThe more environments in which you rehearse, the sharper and more lasting the memory of that material becomesâ€¦ That is, knowledge becomes increasingly independent of surroundings the more changes you make.â€ Most people learn better by studying in different locations, using different methods, at different times of the day, constantly changing the way they store material in memory. â€¢ Is there an optimal amount of time to study or practice? â€œMore important than how long you study is how you distribute the study time you have,â€ says Carey. Ideally, break up study time into chunks over two or three days, each time reengaging with the material, retrieving it, and re-storing it in memory â€“ â€œan active mental step that reliably improves memory.â€ â€¢ How much does it help to review notes from a class or lesson? Very little, he says. Looking over highlighted material is one of the least effective ways to study; the same goes for verbatim copying. Thatâ€™s because both are fairly passive and donâ€™t engage the brain in the kind of work that will make learning sink in. Whatâ€™s more, passive review can cause what cognitive scientists call the â€œfluency illusionâ€ â€“ unwarranted confidence that youâ€™ll remember it for good. â€¢ Is cramming a bad idea? Now always. Itâ€™s okay if youâ€™re behind and have no choice. But the downside is that you wonâ€™t remember much after the test or performance. Thatâ€™s because the brain sharpens memories only after a little forgetting has taken place. â€¢ So what does work? â€œSelf-testing is one of the strongest study techniques there is,â€ says Carey. â€œOld-fashioned flashcards work fine; so does a friend, work colleague, or classmate putting you through the paces.â€ So does reciting a passage from memory, or explaining a concept to yourself or a friend. Testing yourself (or being tested) does two things: it forces you to retrieve information from memory, and it gives you immediate feedback if you couldnâ€™t remember it so you know what you donâ€™t know and need to work on some more. â€¢ Whatâ€™s the most common reason for bombing a test after what felt like careful preparation? Itâ€™s the fluency illusion â€“ the erroneous belief â€œthat you â€˜knewâ€™ something well Marshall Memo 710 November 6, 2017 3 just because it seemed so self-evident at the time you studied it,â€ says Carey. Several passive, ineffective study methods feed this illusion: - Highlighting or rewriting notes; - Working from a teacherâ€™s outline; - Re-studying after youâ€™ve just studied. Far better to test yourself, space out the study, and find out what you actually donâ€™t know. â€¢ Is it best to practice one skill at a time until it becomes automatic, or to work on many things all at once? Working on just one thing (free throws, a musical scale, the quadratic equation) improves skill. â€œBut over time, such focused practice actually limits our development of each skill,â€ says Carey. â€œMixing or â€˜interleavingâ€™ multiple skills in a practice session, by contrast, sharpens our grasp of all of them.â€ Mixed practice helps review material from several areas, sharpens differentiating among them, and trains the brain to match the problem types with appropriate strategies. This is especially helpful in a subject like mathematics. â€¢ How does sleep affect learning? The deep sleep that occurs in the first half of the night is most important for consolidating and retaining hard facts â€“ names, dates, formulas, concepts. So if you need to remember that kind of information, Carey recommends going to bed at your regular time to maximize deep sleep. But the kind of sleep we have in the early morning hours helps consolidate motor skills and creative thinking. If you need to perform creatively, whether itâ€™s in math, science, writing, or music, you might stay up later and sleep in to maximize the effects of the second kind of sleep. â€¢ How about improving performance on longer-term creative projects? The proven method for a big, complicated project like a term paper is getting started as early as possible, chunking the work, and spreading it out over time. Doing this â€œactivates the project in your mind,â€ says Carey, â€œand youâ€™ll begin to see and hear all sorts of things in your daily life that are relevant. Youâ€™ll also be more tuned into what you think about those random, incoming clues.â€ â€¢ Are distractions from smartphones and social media a bad thing? Not unless youâ€™re trying to give continuous focus to a lecture or some other sequential, connected learning experience. When youâ€™re struggling to solve a problem, â€œa short study break â€“ five, ten, twenty minutes to check in on Facebook, respond to a few e-mails, check sports scores â€“ is the most effective technique learning scientists know ofâ€¦â€ says Carey. â€œDistracting yourself from the task at hand allows you to let go of mistaken assumptions, reexamine the clues in a new way, and come back fresh.â€ Your brain will keep working on the problem offline, without your fixated, unproductive focus, and youâ€™ll often have fresh insights when you return to it. â€¢ Can â€œfreeing up the inner slackerâ€ really be called a legitimate learning strategy? If by this we mean â€œappreciating learning as a restless, piecemeal, subconscious, and somewhat sneaky process that occurs all the time â€“ not just when youâ€™re sitting at a desk, face pressed into a book â€“ then itâ€™s the best strategy there is,â€ says Carey. How We Learn by Benedict Carey (Random House, 2013, p. 223-228) Back to page one